Ted Jackson / The Times-PicayuneOil skimmers try to clean up oil from the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, 2010. The RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act would send 80 percent of BP's fines to Gulf states.

The RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act would sent 80 percent of the fines assessed under the Clean Water Act to the Gulf, and the measure enjoys vast support from Democrats and Republicans representing the Gulf states. Such a united front helped pass similar legislation out of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee in October. But that parallel measure has yet to make it to the Senate floor.

It's crucial for both the Senate and the House to pass this legislation quickly. If Congress delays much longer, the bills could be sidetracked as Washington begins to focus on the 2012 elections and legislative activity slows down.

If Congress fails to act, the $5 billion to $20 million in estimated fines would automatically be directed to the federal treasury. That would be a grave injustice to Gulf states that have suffered from the environmental and economic damage from the spill.

The livelihoods of millions of Americans depend on a healthy and restored Gulf ecosystem, and it's only fair that the fines for the spill be used to restore that environment.

Louisiana, which took the hardest environmental hit from the spill, has much at stake in this legislation. But so do other Gulf states. The bill would divide 35 percent of the money equally among the region's five states for economic and ecological recovery, and 30 percent would pay for a comprehensive restoration plan created by a council of federal and state entities.

The council would distribute another 30 percent based on an impact-driven formula, and a final 5 percent would be used to foster research, science and technology for the region's environment.

Passing this measure would benefit the nation's economy as a whole. Louisiana's coast provides a third of the U.S. seafood and much of the country's domestic energy production. These crucial activities suffered major setbacks after the spill, and restoring them should be a national priority.

To that end, a study by Duke University economists concluded that directing most of the fines to the Gulf Coast could be a big job creator. The study noted the unsteady nature of the demand for coastal restoration work, in part because of the gargantuan funding needed. Passing the RESTORE Act would provide substantial and steady revenue for long-term restoration projects.

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, who was instrumental in crafting the House bill, said the study "underscores our claim that Louisiana's coastal wetlands are invaluable, support critical national assets and should be restored immediately." He's right. The Duke study also identified 140 companies in 37 states that would get a boost from restoration work, showing how investing in the Gulf would directly benefit other parts of the nation.

For all these reasons, Congress needs to pass this bipartisan legislation -- and it needs to do it now.